Michael Schueler
Michael Schueler has spent the last ten years defending those accused of serious offenses across Washington State and for the last three years, training the new generation of litigious defenders in King County as both a misdemeanor and felony level supervisor. From 2022 until July 2024, Michael also served as the Deputy Managing Attorney for Associated Counsel for the Accused. Michael has tried nearly three dozen cases to verdict ranging in severity from misdemeanor assault and driving under the influence, to murder with aggravating factors. Michael has consistently been at the forefront of litigation, providing briefing for other lawyers to use through the Washington Defender Association. Michael has also worked on systemic issues across Washington including City of Seattle v. Erickson, a case heard at the Washington Supreme Court focusing on racism by prosecutors in jury selection. This case was first time in Washington State history that the Supreme Court reversed a conviction due to a Batson violation.
Michael’s work on jury selection issues has led to multiple talks and seminars across Washington to other defense lawyers, judges, and prosecutors. He has also spoken nationally, providing insight to the judiciary of the state of New Jersey as well as attorneys in California, and New York as they began to adopt similar jury selection rules to Washington. Michael also spoke with the Duke University School of Law’s Inclusive Juries Project about Washington’s system of jury selection, and is a member of the Project's Advisory Network.
Michael began his career in Cowlitz County, practicing at the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense from 2014 to 2016, handling misdemeanor defense, juvenile defense (misdemeanor and felony), juvenile status offenses, and adult felonies from crimes ranging from drug possession to murder. He handled numerous motions to suppress in a variety of cases, which resulted in multiple dismissals of charges, and successfully tried a number of misdemeanor and felony matters.
In 2016 Michael joined the King County Department of Public Defense – Associated Counsel for the Accused Division, one of the leading Public Defense agencies in the country. He began in the domestic violence misdemeanor unit from 2016 through 2017. In that time, he never lost a trial, getting not guilty verdicts or dismissals after the commencement of trial in nine straight cases. Starting in August 2017, Michael joined the Kent felony unit, becoming Class A qualified in January 2018. He remained active in that unit full time until being promoted to a supervisor role in 2021, though he still kept a number of felony cases including multiple homicide cases. One case, State v. Glaspy, saw Michael and his co-counsel successfully defend a young man falsely accused of killing his step-son over a nearly four month trial from December 2022 until March 2023. For his work in this trial, Michael was awarded the Anthony Savage Award by the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, an award recognizing an outstanding trial performance or result achieved by an attorney in practice less than ten years.
Michael is a 2014 graduate of the Seattle University School of Law, Cum Laude and was a member of the Seattle Journal of Environmental Law. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Washington, with a BA in Political Science and Sociology with honors in Sociology.
Education
- Seattle University School of Law — JD (Cum Laude)
- University of Washington — B.A. Sociology (with honors)
- University of Washington — B.A. Political Science
Bar Admissions
- Washington State
- United States District Court for the Western District of Washington